UEFA FFP investigation - CAS decision to be announced Monday, 13th July 9.30am BST

[kanovic]

One thing that bugs me about this, I don’t buy the argument that UEFA know they will fail.
They are not morons, failure will be a PR disaster for them, yet presumably their lawyers have told them to go ahead with this ban.
They must think they can win.

Even by just announcing the ban they know they hurt ya. Even if we over turn it the matter of fact is people hate us and this will just add to it even if we win. So in their eyes it’s already won no matter the outcome imo.

 

[OB1]

Presumably it’s not advisable for the club to make any kind of detailed statement immediately prior to a high profile court case.

Correct.

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

Just wanted to let you guys know you're not alone. What UEFA is doing and has been doing for years is disgusting, inherently corrupt and is destroying football. Sport without competitivity isn't worthwhile and UEFA seem hell bent on eradicating any form of competitiveness (except where it favours their "chosen few"). They've already destroyed football in Italy by crippling us, Inter, with their sanctions and once they were done with us and we got on something approaching an even foot again, they've hunted down and are hunting down Milan (how interesting that UEFA never took the slightest interest in seeing that Juventus were punished for calciopoli or in pursuing a suitable punishment instead of the ridiculously flimsy penalty that was handed down).

It's not that the clubs they've gone after haven't compromised the rules so much as that the rules are compromised themselves. An example from Serie A, Juventus win it every year so their prize money is huge. That allows them to invest more money which increases their dominance (and lets not kid ourselves, we all know who is going to win the scudetto again this year, and the next, and the next...) which allows them to invest even more money ad infinitum. Financial Fair Play has been set up by a cartel of clubs and those in cahoots with these clubs. UEFA as anyone with even a cursory knowledge of football knows is inherently corrupt. UEFA pontificating about morals and dishing out punishments? That's like taking lessons in morality from Jimmy Saville.

I have firmly believed from day one that UEFA's FFP rules were eminently challengeable in a legal context. In what other business can you tell somebody that they can't invest their own money to grow a project??? The way City have been run since your current owners came in has been exemplary. They speculated to accumulate, an age old business practice, and having done so wisely and astutely are reaping deserved rewards. That a mafia-like organisation like UEFA is now sticking its nose in because they don't like "the new kids on the block" (and I use that term with tongue firmly in cheek; City have always been a massive club and similarly to Inter, unlike other clubs like Liverpool, United, Juventus, your and our fans don't only turn up when the team is winning).

I always hoped we would try to fight UEFA but we were in a mess because of the Moratti-Thohir-Suning ownership saga and by the time Suning came in, I think they felt it was better to just get FFP out of the way and build. I genuinely think your owners however are savvy, wealthy, well-connected, intelligent and committed enough to be the club which finally takes UEFA down from its pedestal. I have nothing but respect for Manchester City, your owners and your project and I hope as much as you do that you manage to give UEFA a bloody nose over this. If they get away with it this time, I shudder to think what the future holds for football. Whilst United are riddled with debt, Juventus have posted debt on the Irish stock exchange for the last couple of years, UEFA are targetting a club which seriously has its house in order and is a shining example for how to run a football club.

Best of luck and I will be supporting you every step of the way.

Forza City!

Sei molto gentile, commilitone!

 

[Vic]

CAS isnt the final word, we can take it further than them if they also say we are guilty... correct me if im wrong about that guys.

Also correct me in presuming if we do appeal and it goes to CAS then wont we technically still be in the Champs league next season untill a decision is made? If thats the case then why is there so much media talk about 5th place getting a champs league spot next season? Because surely they know we are appealing???

Perhaps we will do what we might have done instead of "taking the pinch". Argue that FFP is unfair restraint of trade under EU law. That was what happened in the Bosman case, which started in the Belgian courts and was finally decided by the ECJ. Post-Brexit, the UK Supreme Court will still interpret EU law - I have no idea what would happen if the UK courts ruled that FFP was unlawful under EU law when we're no longer in the EU.

There was support for FFP from an EU Parliamentary group, but they also said it was wrong for executives of clubs to be members of the governing body.

 

[SB Blue]

We won't be in the CL until someone says we are. Chelsea were still under a transfer ban even though they were appealling. Not sure whose call it is

Didn’t Chelsea serve the ban ‘voluntarily’, accepting guilt and their argument was the length of ban?

Haven’t other clubs, Spanish one’s, appealed and had it suspended, allowing them to buy their transfer targets early and then serving the ban with no real impact?

Transfer bans are a different kettle of fish than competition bans though, as others have said, enforcing the ban ahead of the appeal would have serous financial implications for UEFA if we were cleared by CAS.

 

[wolviedinho]

I understand your thinking. But that is their end game here. To surpress our club and owner into submission along with us the fans.

We have been through tough times before all this, relegation, division 2, Swales etc.

Those of us that have supported our club but as a fanbase stood shoulder by shoulder in those years and wore our club badge as honour whilst those that presided above us looked down upon us as a joke club, and would mutter "oh i don't mind City" until it became apparent we threatened their position

This i hope will now galvanise our fan base... The blue fans that turn up every week but are sometimes to coy to raise a voice or choose not too..need to break their silence and start rallying behind the club

They want to beat us into submission...we need to show that we wont and the club wont

Completely agree, we have ruined the

that' why I hope we'll attack the core of the problem and that's FFP itself. The last sentence from City' statement gives me some hope. They mentioned CA as first instance we're going to fight UEFA. There's zero reasons we should play friendly now, we had to try that approach o far as we were fine with the outcome. But this serious and if there is 1% of making FFP outright illegal, than we should go after it.

I agree mate, the whole thing stinks. They want us gone. The club has been put through a lot of crap since the takeover. How dare we compete in the premier league! I do feel for the players and pep. The amount of times he had to big up our achievements is a travesty. The gutter press are a feral pack. HH needs to buy a media corporation that is the only way we will get the praise the team deserves. It is a bit like trump in the state. We should call them out in every press conference. Start using word that are catchy and will stick to certain individuals and corporations. Feck them fight fire with fire we hated anyway nothing to lose now.

 

[bondsman]

I think this is worse than our relegations. Then we maintained our honour. Irrespective of the appeal outcome this has undermined the honour of our club. Not sure how we ever get it back. We probably shouldn’t care how we are viewed but every achievement we have and may have will be sullied by this. Shit situation for us as fans especially, we suffer most imho.

 

[KS55]

Nonsense, if City take these twats on and fuck them right up there will be plenty of non City fans celebrating. City will be in effect representing the interests of every non elite club in Europe.

Not only is this correct, but we should make sure that clubs all around europe understand this.
Start with Red Bull and Newcastle.

 

[OB1]

It all comes down to whether the emails are real or not. Context or not, they look bad. Do CAS have disclosure powers? If not we are basically running a procedure argument and UEFAs defence is surely just ‘show us the emails then’?

The emails shouldn't be admissible evidence and I assume that will be part of City's case, which may be accepted by CAS or a court whereas UEFA have only one goal in mind and don't care how they achieve it.

Ultimately we may have to go to real courts and have the regulations we have been purported to have broken declared illegal due to the fact - and I believe it is fact - that they are anti-competitive and nothing more than veiled protectionism. Win that case btw and I suspect we could then sue UEFA an ruin the fuckers and if there is evidence that they conspired with other clubs, take those bastards to the cleaners too.

I wonder what Abu Dhabi's secret service or equivalent can hack?

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

And one of the main players driving things,the goofy twat is a liar

I watched a science programme the other day that reckoned there are only 3 things you can see from outer-space: The Great Wall of China; Klopp's teeth and UEFA's corruption.